“I’d really like to get a look at Holly Boyle’s autopsy report.” Micha glanced around the group. “Anyone have a source in the ME’s office?”
“I do from my deputy days,” Devan said. “Old college buddy. I can give him a call.”
“Good,” Micha said. “Get back to me the minute you know anything.”
Reid added the information to the whiteboard.
“While you’re writing, put me down for a deep dive on all of the class participants,” Colin said. “I’ve done most of the work. Unfortunately, I haven’t turned anything up, but I’ve got a few more searches I can run.” He leaned forward to look at Ava. “Oh, and you’ll all be happy to know my search of Ava’s real name came up squeaky clean.”
“I wasn’t worried it wouldn’t,” Ava said when no one else said the same thing. Not even Micha. Had he doubted her? Probably. After all, she’d lied to him. Why would he trust her?
“What about a visit to the main suspects’ homes?” Micha asked. “We know they’re with Ryan, and we should be able to get in without getting caught.”
“And who exactly are your main suspects?” Reid held his pen, ready to write.
“I think it’s Ernie, Jamal, and Buck,” Ava said.
Micha set down his water bottle and swiped the back of his hand over his mouth. “Jamal and Buck are strong possibilities. Both have violent tendencies, and Jamal’s into a medieval LARPing where catapults could be used.”
“And Ernie?” Reid asked.
“I’m not liking him for this,” Micha said. “Just a gut feel. I don’t want to rule him out based on that. We can’t rule out the other two either, but they’re not setting off my radar.”
“The three of them are familiar with music and the threatening note to me was a song,” Ava said.
Devan narrowed his eyes. “But couldn’t Layne have written the song and given it to whoever put it in your backpack?”
“He could, but the song’s actually well written,” Ava said. “And he doesn’t have the musical knowledge to do something like that.”
“He could’ve hired someone,” Colin said, “then did as Dev suggested. Gave it to one of our class participants.”
“I could see that happening.” Micha picked at his thumbnail, his expression thoughtful. “But getting someone else involved could leave a link back to Layne. If he means Ava harm and has an ounce of sense, he’d try to avoid any connections.”
“It’s all possible, though. we don’t know enough about Layne to know what he’s capable of.” Reid lifted his marker and rested the tip on the board. “There has to be a connection with one of them to Layne, and we need to find it.”
“Trying, boss man,” Colin said. “To that end, the minute Micha called me, I went into storage and cloned the other participants phones to search for Layne’s name and number. Nada. I need to give them a deeper look, but it would help if I could just focus at first on the three you named.”
“Hey, man,” Micha said. “Great work on the cloning.”
“Would you expect anything less?” Colin laughed.
Micha rolled his eyes.
Ava glanced around the group. “I hate to add more work, but shouldn’t we also add Jamal’s LARPing group leader to the list? Guy’s name is Phoenix Preston. He might have info that could help us.”
“Then let’s start with the three suspects and Preston.” Reid noted their names on the board.
“Will do,” Colin said.
Reid glanced back. “Checking out the suspects’ homes is a solid plan, too. We might find that connection to Layne there.”
“I can give you the addresses,” Colin said.
“Ernie mentioned he’s married, and his wife’s a real homebody,” Ava said. “So it might be a problem to get a look at his place.”
“Let’s skip his house for now,” Micha said. “We can always go back there.”
“About that chopper ride,” Colin said. “As much as I’m all for it, Buck and Jamal live on rural properties. By the time the chopper lands, we get a rental car, make the trip to their places, we might as well have road-tripped it from here.”
